High Resilience poly foam mattress build questions

[pw154]

Hi,

I would like to thank Phoenix for this great website and forum, truly a very helpful resource.

My wife and I have tried both memory/poly foam and latex mattresses locally, and we prefer the feel of the memory and poly foam to latex; the latex seemed too ‘bouncy’ for us. I have decided to build a mattress made primarily out of high resilience poly foam, with a comfort layer consisting of a higher density memory foam.

I am 5’11" and weigh 180 lbs. My wife is 5’3" and normally weighs around 115 lbs, though she is pregnant at the moment and currently weighs around 135 lbs. Her discomfort while sleeping on our ~ 6 year old Simmons pocket coil mattress is what spurred this search for a better bed.

We are both primarily side and back sleepers and prefer a softer feeling mattress while still maintaining good spinal support.
Testing locally we both found the Serta iComfort Talent (http://mattressworld.ca/products/mattress-sets/specialty/icomfort-talent.htm) and Tempurpedic Cloud Luxe to be comfortable in the showroom. Though I was skeptical about the quality of the materials in the iComfort, and the Tempurpedic was just too expensive and I could not see the value in it.

I am in Canada and have found a source through your mattress forum (https://en.memoryfoamcomfort.ca) out of Quebec that sells high resilience poly foam 2.5 lbs, with a support factor of 2.8.

That being the case, I have this particular configuration in mind:

3" - Soft 14 ILD 5 lbs Aerus Visco Memory Foam
3" - Medium-Firm 28 ILD 2.5 lbs High Resilience Poly Foam
6" - Firm 35 ILD 2.5 lbs High Resilience Poly Foam

I am thinking that the 3 inches of 28 ILD poly foam would act as a transitional layer between the soft comfort layer and the firm support core.

Can you give me your opinion on this configuration, and how it would potentially feel overall in terms of softness / firmness?

Is the topper/comfort layer going to be satisfactory in terms of quality in your opinion?

I would also like to encase all this foam in the 4 way stretch non-quilted zipper cover from https://www.sleepez.com. They say that this cover is made for latex mattresses, but that memory/poly foam would work as well? Would you recommend this cover for this application?

Thank you for your help.

[phoenix]

Hi pw154,

If you are designing and building your own mattress out of separate components the first place I would start is by reading option 3 in post #15 here and the posts it links to so that you can make sure that you have realistic expectations and that you are comfortable with the uncertainty and trial and error (or in some cases higher costs) that may be involved in the DIY process. The best approach to a DIY mattress is a “spirit of adventure” where what you learn and the satisfaction that comes from the process itself is more important than any cost savings you may realize (which may or may not happen).

This is particularly true with polyfoam mattresses because there are many factors and “specs” involved in assessing the firmness level of polyfoam layers besides just IFD (see post #4 here) (although the mattress you listed would be a memory foam mattress not a polyfoam mattress because the comfort layer is memory foam).

[quote]I am in Canada and have found a source through your mattress forum (en.memoryfoamcomfort.ca) out of Quebec that sells high resilience poly foam 2.5 lbs, with a support factor of 2.8.

That being the case, I have this particular configuration in mind:

3" - Soft 14 ILD 5 lbs Aerus Visco Memory Foam
3" - Medium-Firm 28 ILD 2.5 lbs High Resilience Poly Foam
6" - Firm 35 ILD 2.5 lbs High Resilience Poly Foam[/quote]

As you probably know Memory Foam Comfort is one of the members of this site which means that I think highly of them and the quality and value of their mattresses along with their knowledge and experience so they would be well worth talking to. These are certainly all very high quality materials and there are no “weak links” in the design in terms of durability.

When you can’t test a specific combination of layers or a specific mattress in person before a purchase though I would always make sure you have a more detailed conversation with the manufacturer or retailer so they can “talk you through” the suitability of your choices because most people would have little idea of how all the different types of materials and specs would actually “feel” in real life or interact together … (see mattress firmness/comfort levels in post #2 here) and this is especially true with polyfoam (although again your mattress would be a “memory foam” mattress). They will have much more knowledge and experience with the materials and mattresses they sell than anyone else and are in the best position to provide “expert guidance” about their products and how the different combinations would likely feel and perform for different body types and sleeping positions. Even experienced mattress designers are often surprised at the difference between how a particular combination of materials “should feel” based on theory or specs compared to how it actually does feel in “real life”.

I would also keep in mind that polyfoam ILD is not comparable to latex ILD because they are measured in different ways (see post #6 here) and that ILD is not particularly meaningful with memory foam at all because ILD testing with memory foam produces different numbers because it’s a slow response material and the ILD of memory foam changes with temperature, humidity, and the length of time it is compressed.

I would also like to encase all this foam in the 4 way stretch non-quilted zipper cover from www.sleepez.com. They say that this cover is made for latex mattresses, but that memory/poly foam would work as well? Would you recommend this cover for this application?

Yes … any good quality stretch knit cover such as the SleepEz cover would be a suitable choice for a memory foam mattress.

Phoenix